Ross Coin Rings Push-Follower Version 2 for Use with Swedish Wrap Dies - Special Holiday Price

The Ross Coin Rings (RCR) Push-Follower was designed for use with the Swedish Wrap dies. If you are not familiar with the “Swedish Wrap Method” of forming a coin ring – please read the explanation below.

In order to press, or extrude, the coin into and/or through the Swedish Die, some type of Pusher was placed on top of the coin. Initially, these Pushers were nothing more than a round piece of metal, that would be large enough to make good contact with the reeded edge of the coin, yet smaller than the inside circumference of the Swedish Wrap die.

Some merely used a selection of Sockets from a socket wrench set, as pictured here. These sockets were of progressively smaller diameters, and hence could be changed out after each press that might be only 1/16” or 1/8” in depth change. The reason they needed to be changed out this often is because it is imperative that the metal socket NOT contact the inside surfaces of the Swedish Die, because it could damage the smooth internal die surface. The socket could only go a short distance before it would start to contact the die wall, and then it would be exchanged for the next smaller one.

Soon after the Swedish Dies became more popular, other more refined Pushers were used. Two of the most popular were short pieces of various diameter Nylon rods, and various diameter Brass, Bronze or Aluminum rods. These Pushers were an improvement over the use of wrench sockets. In general, the material could not damage the internal surface of the die walls because they were softer than the steel die. Of course both the metal and the Nylon could be dented or rounded over if too much pressure was exerted after it contacted the die wall. Although an improvement, these pushers still needed to be changed out after pressing only a short distance because they would contact the die wall, and restrict further pressing. Also, as the coin progressed deeper into a given die, these pushers would generally need to be stacked one on another in order to reach the bottom of the die.

Advantages of the RCR Push-Follower

The RCR Push-Follower is a unique design and specifically addresses several of the shortcomings of the Nylon or Brass pushers.

First, the RCR Push-Followers actually change diameter as it “chases” the coin down into the Swedish Die. Thus, it Follows the coin as it pushes against it, and allows significantly more depth of travel before the press would be relaxed to check for sizing. This feature results in a time savings because there are less annealing and rewrapping steps involved. Also, there is no requirement to stack one pusher on another and keep them lined up.

In general, each RCR Push-Follower takes the place of approximately 15 wrench sockets that are spaced 1/8” apart from each other.

Therefore, a set of 3 RCR Push-Followers would be roughly equivalent to 45 push increments spaced 1/8” apart.

Swedish Wrap Method - Who came up with it, and how it works...

In about the middle of 2016, the so-called “Swedish Wrap” method of forming a coin ring was released to the general coin ring crafting society by a coin ring maker, Mikael Moller of Helgum, Sweden. The method essentially involves pushing the “cone-shaped” coin ring down an extrusion die which has tapered walls with only a small amount of taper. This action squeezes the reeded side of the coin in on itself and results in a much smaller circumference. The target size of the coin ring is thus achieved, or nearly achieved, without stretching the cut side of the coin. Rather, the reeded side of the coin is compressed, and elongated some.

Since the extrusion process involves pressing the sides of the coin ring against the interior surface of the die, the coin ring must be “wrapped” in order to protect the details of the coin. Several materials have been used to wrap the cone-shaped ring; the most popular being Teflon pipe tape or black electricians tape. However, there are probably a multitude of different materials that could be used, as long as the compression in the die does not harm the details of the original coin.

The main purpose of this “Swedish Wrap” method is to allow large coins to be compressed down to smaller ring sizes, without excessive curling of the edges. Prior to the introduction of this method, smaller ring sizes made from large coins would typically end up with a “fat tire” look and have a lot of curve to the ring. Utilizing the “Swedish Wrap” method allows smaller ring sizes from large coins while still maintaining fairly straight sides.

Also, since the RCR Push-Followers are made from tough PVC, there is no fear of them damaging the inside walls of the Swedish Die. In addition, the reeded (top side) edge of the coin will not need extra layers of “wrapping tape” for protection, because the PVC is softer than the coin metal. Light impressions from the reeded edge may be left in the bottom ends of the Follower, but these are harmless.

Finally, only two different sizes of RCR Push-Followers are needed to completely press the coin through a set of two 2” Swedish dies. The Largest Push-Follower (light grey) is designed to work with large SW dies having a top opening of 1.6 to 1.5" opening.